A fraudster cheated the child benefit and tax credit system out of more than £1.7million with claims for 188 non-existent kids.
Ali Bana Mohamed used relatives and others to assist in the scam, which involved submitting bogus claims in about 70 different names. They got away with the brazen scheme until suspicions were aroused by the HMRC.
The tax office spotted that the same two telephone numbers were repeatedly calling the tax credits claims call centre in connection with seemingly unrelated claims and a dedicated DWP investigation was launched.
